Home Sweet Juneau

Yes, that's right.  The stuffed bear in a glass box will mean home for the next 12 months.  I finally arrived in Juneau after 10+ hours of travel and got to meet my judge and the outgoing clerks.  They fed me pie.  Obviously, I'm enamored.

Despite the fact that my parents' internet went out last night while I was trying to download movies to watch on iTunes, the journey was remarkably okay.  I had two smooth flights (after dealing with some maintenance and power issues) and the skycap in Chicago let my 53 lb bag go without the extra charge.  I did not even have to pull out any tears!  However, the movie that did finally download was billed as a drama...iTunes somehow left out the part about the gratuitous sex scenes.  Literally, nothing censored.  I'm watching this thing on my laptop and could not stop thinking about how many people around me were wondering why I was viewing soft core porn on a public flight.  Don't worry, I made sure there were no children around and fast forwarded when I felt the burn of leering eyes.

Once in Seattle, I realized that the airport there is wonderful.  Maybe the anticipated 7-8 hour layovers won't be so bad after all.  Here are some of the most amazing parts:

1) Indian artifacts

(Followed up by the most amazing rattails ever witnessed on men...even better than in Chile.  Out of respect for the native peoples, I restrained my picture-taking impulse...but trust me on this one!)

2) A wine bar located right next to a fresh fish place.  Mmmmm....

3) THIS!

FREE WILLY! 

Oh, I also found a "talking fountain."  It looked just like a regular water fountain until I started filling up my water bottle and it made strange gurgling noises.  Since it takes a while to fill up the whole bottle, I drew quite a bit of attention with that one.  I really hope they did not expand the concept to the "talking toilet."

The flight into Juneau was literally the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.  There were snow-capped mountains to my right and out the left window, mountains and water and clouds.  There was a thin pink/orange line on the horizon but except for that marker, you could not tell where the sky ended and the land began.  If there is a heaven, I'm pretty sure it looks like that.  Unfortunately, I did not have the window seat so no in-flight pics were taken, but I plan to capture it out in nature sometime soon.

I've been here for about 2 hours.  I have not found any mountain men yet.  I have found a cute boy that does Indian law...if he wears flannel tomorrow, I'm sold!